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Kyle Busch recovered after a rough Sprint Cup loss last week with a big win in the Charlotte Trucks race on Friday. Photo by LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

Kyle Busch gets big win in Charlotte Trucks race

May 16, 2013

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Six nights after a bitterly disappointing loss in a Sprint Cup race, Kyle Busch bounced back with another vintage performance on Friday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway. This time, driving a Toyota Tundra for his own team, Busch easily won the N.C. Education Lottery 201 for NASCAR's Camping World Truck Series.

Last weekend, after winning the Friday night Nationwide Series race at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, Busch dominated the Saturday night Southern 500. But a late-race tire issue left him sixth, so frustrated and angry that he stormed to his motor coach without talking to the media. (It's not required, but is common courtesy when a dominant driver has late-race problems. Busch isn't the first to run from the media after a tough loss).

“This doesn't make up for last Saturday night,” he said Friday night, happy to meet his NASCAR-mandated media obligations as a race winner. “You can't get ones back like that one last weekend. It's hard to overcome (a tough loss) in Cup, but this one feels pretty good. It halfway makes up for our wrecked truck in Kansas a few weeks ago. The Cup side is the Cup side, and those losses are harder to get over.”

Busch led 80 of the 134 laps in winning rather comfortably over Brendan Gaughan, Max Gresham, point-leader Matt Crafton, Ty Dillon, James Buescher, Miguel Paludo, John Wes Townley, Ross Chastain and Justin Lofton. It was his 113th win in NASCAR's top three series: 26 in Sprint Cup (including two this year), 56 in the Nationwide Series (five this year) and 31 in the Truck Series (one this year). It was his first Truck Series win in eight starts since the fall of 2011 at Loudon, N.H. “To me,” he said, “that seems like a lifetime (of not winning).”

He dominated the first two-thirds on Friday night, leading 49 of the first 67 laps and 66 of the first 84. But a pit stop error and subsequent drive-through penalty cost him track position under caution, and he was 19th when the race restarted at lap 87. He quickly raced back into the top 10 by lap 96, and was second to Paludo when the seventh caution waved with 19 laps remaining.

Busch easily regained the lead at lap 121 and led the final 14 laps for his 31st career Truck Series win in 107 starts, his fifth at CMS and first this year. All told, he led three times for 80 of the 134 laps. Paludo led once for 33 laps, Gaughan once for 15, and Gresham and Dillon once each for three laps. Jeb Burton won the pole, but Dillon beat him on the start and led the first three laps before took over.

Gaughan said he was angry at finishing second, but it was a positive anger. “It feels good to be mad about second-place,” he said. “I haven't been this happy in years.” And Gresham looked at his career-best third-place like this: “To us, it feels like a win.”